Inuti den svarta amorfen. Tankeexperiment för ett animerande utställningsrum i samtiden

Abstract

This essay essentially place itself within the recent and contemporary field of study, namely the sensory turn, when it sets out to theoretically synthesise and reason an exhibition room of today and tomorrow, the authors creation “the black amorphis” (den svarta amorfen). The goal is to elaborate on one way of how an exhibition room could be configured in order to transform the self experienced and observed “insecure spectator”, often featured in the so called “white cube”, into the “enthralled visitor”. Thus illuminating key elements an engaging, inviting, animated, and popularised exhibition room should account for. Some of the most prominent elements discussed being lighting situation, sound usage as well as creation of soundscapes, and room layout. The features of this imagined exhibition room will further be developed on in a field study in the Swedish museum Fotografiska, showing many of the black amorphis characteristics, in order to see how they potentially could be implemented in reality. The essay will inevitably also have to engage in the recent discussion about the future of museum rooms and their role in society. Since this essay’s topic in many senses take on a discursive field, and discourses as such rarely admit clear answers, this study should in whole be seen as a pre- study for something bigger, or food for thoughts.